A Comparison Across the Iron Curtain. Continuities and Discontinuities of Residential Care in the Two German States
A Comparison Across the Iron Curtain. Continuities and Discontinuities of Residential Care in the Two German States
Author(s): Felix BerthSubject(s): History, Anthropology, Social Sciences, Sociology, Social history, Recent History (1900 till today), Special Historiographies:, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Health and medicine and law, Welfare services, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Cold-War History
Published by: ЮГОЗАПАДЕН УНИВЕРСИТЕТ »НЕОФИТ РИЛСКИ«
Keywords: Residential care; comparative history; East and West Germany; attachment theory
Summary/Abstract: This article analyses the history of residential care for babies and toddlers in the two German states between the 1950s and the 1980s. A comparative perspective is em-ployed to delineate similarities and differences in their developmental trajectories. Initially, parallel trends could be observed: in the first period, infant homes for babies and toddlers exhibited significant growth in East and West Germany, and the scien-tific discourse manifested conformity in both. Substantial disparities emerged only in the 1960s. In capitalist West Germany, these institutions were rapidly dismantled due to alarming findings from scientific research. In contrast, within socialist East Germa-ny, the infant homes for babies and toddlers gradually vanished from public discourse while simultaneously enduring as an institution for residential care until the collapse of the German Wall in 1989.
Journal: Балканистичен Форум
- Issue Year: 33/2024
- Issue No: 3
- Page Range: 122-138
- Page Count: 17
- Language: English
